Cigarette-shell.



N0. 843,628. PATENTED FEB. 12, 1907.

S. I.'PRBSGOTT. v

CIGARETTE SHELL.

APPLICATION FILED DBO. e, 1905.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SYDNEY I. PRESCOTT, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO-THE AMERICAN TOBACCO COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

CIGARETTE-SHELL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 12, 1907.

Application filed December 8.1905. Serial No. 290,893.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SYDNEY I. PRESCOTT, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, county of Kings, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cigarette-Shells, fully de' scribed and represented in the following specification and the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same.

This invention relates certain improve ments in cigarette-shells of the mouthpiece type.

In making cigarettes of the mouthpiece type it is customary to first form the shells, these shells consisting of thin pa er tubes having mouthpieces therein, and to than stuff the tobacco into that end of the shell which is not provided with a mouthpiece. The mouthpiece is formed of a relatively stiff material, usually a coiled strip of heavy pa per which is net intended to burn. Any tobacco which enters the mouthpiece is wasted, and it is therefore desirable to prevent the entry of any considerable amount of tobacco into the mouthpiece. At the same time if the tobacco stops even, or substantially so, with the inner end of the mouthpiece the cigarette is weak and the thin shell is liable to break in a plane containing the inner edge of the coiled strip which forms the inner end of the mouthpiece. It is therefore desirable to allow the tobacco to enter the mouthpiece for a short distance, the tobacco filling or rod thus operating to strengthen the shell.

Mouthpieces for cigarettes have heretofore been formed from a blank which had one of its edges slit to provide a series of little tongues which were bent at an an le to the body of the blank. WVhcn the blank was rolled into a mcuthpiecethese little tongues extended inwardly and met in the center of the bore or central opening of the mouthpiece near the inner end thereof. The purpose of this construction was to provide a stop to prevent the tobacco which is stuffed into the shell from entering too far into the mouthpiece-lame. These tongues, lying as they do at right angles to what may be termed the axis or central line of the mouthpiece, were weak and liable to bend in ward under the thrust of the tobacco filling or rod which was stuffed into the shell, thus allowing too much tobacco to get into the mouthpiece.

WVith these and other objects not specific ally referred to in View the invention consists in certain constructions and improvements which will be herein fully described, and specifically pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 represents a blank from which the mouthpiece may be formed. Fig. 2 represents an edge view of the blank shown in Fig. 1, the blank, however, being bent to illustrate the first step taken in the manufacture of the mouthpiece. Fig. 3 is an end view of a cigarette shell having the improved mouthpiece therein, this view being taken from the mouthpiece end of the shell. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section of the cigaretteshell having the improved mouthpiece therein, and Fig. 5 is a similar section showing the completed cigarette.

The mouthpiece of the improved cigarette-shell may be made in various ways, but its interior or bore will be provided with a rigid tobacco-stopthat is, a stop which will not yield under the thrust of the tobacco rod or filling as it is stuffed into the shell. A convenient way of forming this stop is by the employment of a strip of material which stands edgewise to the advancing tobacco filling 0r rod as it is thrust into the cigaretteshell, this strip being wide enough to check the advance of the rod or filling without yielding.

Mouthpieces are now usually formed by coiling up a suitable blank, and the drawings illustrate an embodiment of the invention applied to a mouthpiece made in this manner. A blank from which a mouthpiece may be formed is illustrated in Fig. 1 and marked 1. The tube in which the mouthpiece is placed is marked 2. When, as is the case with the construction shown in the drawings, the invention is embodied in a cigarette-shell which hasits mouth piece formed from a coiled blank, the rigid stop may be provided by properly locating the interior end of the blank-viz, that end of the blank which lies inside the coil in the bore of the coil or mouthpiece. In the best constructions this interior end of the blank will be given an angular bend, the line of this bend being indicated at 3 in Fig. 3. This bend causes the interior end of the blank to stand edgewise across the central opening or bore of the mouthpiece and at an angle to the body thereof. The bend which is given the interior end of the blank should be sharp enough to give the paper a set, so that the end will not fly back when released from the coiling-tool and as sume a circular form.

WVhile the blank from which the mouthpiece is formed may be varied in its shape, care should be taken to have the blank so shaped that the interior end will have width enough to render the end rigid against the thrust of the tobacco rodthat is, the end of the blank which is to be the interior end after the blank is coiled up into the mouthpiece should be wide enough to extend a considerable distance lengthwise of the mouthpiecebore. In the best constructions the rigid stop will be in contact with the wall of the bore at two points which are removed from each other a substantial distance, so that the stop is stiffened and held in position. In the construction shown in the drawings the interior bent end has its edge 4 brought into contact with the wall of the bore at a point removed from the initial bend, as is clearly illustrated in Fig. 3, this edge 4 being wide enough so that the edge is in contact with the wall of the bore for a considerable distance along the length thereof. By thus bringing the edge of the interior bent end into contact with the wall of the bore the stop formed by the bore is stiffened and rendered less liable to displacement under the thrust of the tobacco filling when the same is forced into the tube. When the stop is formed by the interior end of the coiled blank, it may be still further stiffened by providing it with an additional bend 5, this bend operating to divide the bent end into two parts 6 and 7, which lie at an angle to each other. While this rigid interior tobacco-stop may be located close to the inner end of the mouthpiece, so that the tobacco filling stops in a plane which is substantially that containing the inner end of the mouthpiece, a cigarette thus formed will be weak for the reason that the tobaccocontaining part of the shell is liable to break off from that part of the shell which contains the mouthpiece. For this reason the mouthpiece will, in the best constructions, be formed so as to provide a short pocket in the inner end thereof, this pocket permitting the filling or rod of tobacco which is forced into the shell to extend for a short distance into the mouthpiece, so that the cigarette is strengthened thereby and the liability of the tobacco-containing part of the cigarette to break away from the mouthpiece part is lessened. This tobacco-containingpocketin the mouthpiece is formed by locating the stop a little distance back from the inner end of the mouthpiece.

When the mouthpiece is formed from a coiled blank, the blank may be cut away, as indicated at 1 in Fig. 1. After the blank is rolled up to form the mouthpiece this cutaway edge 8will lie some distance back of the inner edge 9 of the body of the mouthpiece, thus forming the pocket referred to.

In order to prevent the rear edge of the interior bent end or stop from showing at the rear end of the cigarette, the blank may be cut away, as indicated at 10 in Fig- 1. In forming the cuts 8 and 10 care should be taken not to form the cut 8 attoo sharp an angle, so as to make the pocket in the mouthpiece containing the end of the tobacco rod too deep, and in forming the cut 10 care should be taken not to make it sharp enough to make the squared end 4, before referred to, too narrow.

Changes and variations may be made in the construction of the article by which this invention is carried into effect. The invention is not, therefore, to be limited to the specific construction hereinbefore described, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

What is claimed is 1. A shell for cigarettes comprising a tube and a mouthpiece, the interior of said mouthpiece being provided with a tobacco-stop which is rigid against the thrust of the tobacco rod as it is inserted into the shell.

2. A shell for cigarettes comprising a tube and a mouthpiece the interior of the mouthpiece having a tobacco-stop extending across and in contact with the bore of the mouthpiece.

3. A shell for cigarettes comprising a tube and a mouthpiece, the interior of the mouthpiece being provided with a tobacco-stop consisting of a strip of material, said strip being wide enough to extend for a considerable distance lengthwise of the bore of the mouthpiece.

4. A shell for cigarettes comprising a tube and a mouthpiece, the interior of the mouthpiece having a tobacco-stop consisting of a strip of material, said strip being wide enough to extend for a considerable distance lengthwise of the bore of the shell and being in contact with the bore of the shell at points removed from each other.

5. A shell for cigarettes comprising a tube and a mouthpiece formed from a coil of ma terial the interior end of the coil having a bend which causes it to stand across the bore of the mouthpiece, said end beingin contact with the wall of the bore at a point removed from the bend and forming a rigid tobaccostop.

6. A shell for cigarettes comprising a tube and a mouthpiece formed from a coil, the interior end of the coil standing edgewise across the bore of the mouthpiece near its inner end, the edge of said interior bent end being in contact with the wall of the bore for a considerable distance along its length.

7. A shell for cigarettes comprising a tube and a mouthpiece formed from a coil, the interior end of the coil standing across the bore of the mouthpiece and being in contact with the wall of the bore, this interior end forming a tobacco-stop having a bend which divides it into two parts lying at an angle to each other. v

8. A shell for cigarettes comprising a tube and a mouthpiece formed from a coil, the interior end of the coil standing edgewise across the bore of the mouthpiece and being in contact therewith for a considerable portion of the length of the mouthpiece, this interior end having a bend therein which divides it into two parts lying at an angle to each other.

9. A shell for cigarettes comprising a tube and a mouthpiece, the mouthpiece being formed to provide a short tobacco-pocket and being provided with a tobacco-stop which is rigid against the thrust of the tobacco rod as it is inserted into the shell.

10. A shell for cigarettes comprising a tube and a mouthpiece, the inner end of the mouthpiece being formed to provide a short tobacco-pocket and having a tobacco-stop extending across and in contact with the bore of the mouthpiece and at points removed irom each other.

11. A shell for cigarettes comprising a tube and a mouthpiece, the inner end of the mouthpiece being formed to provide a tobacco-pocket and having a tobacco-stop consisting of a strip of material, said strip being wide enough to extend for a considerable distance lengthwise of the bore of the mouthpiece.

12. A shell for cigarettes comprising a tube and a mouthpiece, the inner end of the mouthpiece being formed to provide a short tobacco-pocket and being provided with a tobacco-stop consisting of a strip of material, said strip being wide enough to extend for a considerable distance lengthwise of the bore of the mouthpiece and being in contact with the mouthpiece at points removed from each other.

13. A shell for cigarettes comprising a tube and a mouthpiece formed from a coil, the coil being formed to provide a short tobaccopocket and the interior end of the coil standing edgewise across the bore of the mouthpiece and being in contact with the wall thereof for a considerable portion of the length of the mouthpiece.

14. A shell for cigarettes comprising a tube having a mouthpiece formed from a coil, the coil being formed to provide a short tobaccopocket and the interior end of the coil standing edgewise across the bore of the mouthpiece and being in contact with it for a considerable portion of its length, said bent end having a bend which divides it into two parts.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

SYDNEY I. PRESCOTT.

l/Vitnesses A. WHITE, G. GALIANI. 

